


[hacker voice] I'm in.

by Justevan3



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Minor Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Minor Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, cyberpunk-lite, i'd like to call this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justevan3/pseuds/Justevan3
Summary: Mark didn’t see Donghyuck that much despite them being roommates, but he was sure of exactly two things about the other boy:1. Donghyuck exclusively wears hoodies and sweatpants.2. Donghyuck would never be caught outside unless it was for food or class.So why was he out in broad daylight in a leather jacket and- were those goggles?
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 16
Kudos: 274





	[hacker voice] I'm in.

**Author's Note:**

> hello~!  
> it's been a minute hahahhhhhhhh  
> life has been...kind of a roller coaster this past year? so a lot of my writing plans have fallen through... but!! i'm hoping (really really hoping) to write more and write more consistently for 2020! i've got quite a few wips and i want to /try/ to post most, if not all of them this year.
> 
> a n y w a y  
> big thanks to my bestie for LITERALLY dreaming up this idea and reading my stuff so I know it's not /total/ garbage ily <3
> 
> hope you enjoy~~~

If enrollment wasn’t a requirement to live in the university apartments, Mark would seriously be questioning whether or not his roommate actually went to school. Mark _never_ saw Donghyuck on campus. Granted they were in different departments, Mark studied literature while Donghyuck did computer science, but Mark’s friends were scattered across even more disciplines. So it felt more than a little strange that he hadn’t seen Donghyuck in the dining hall or the library or even just walking to another class. 

For a while, Mark had even entertained the idea that Donghyuck was a vampire, since Mark only ever saw him come and go at night. But he didn’t think vampires were supposed to be tan. Or like Flaming Hot Cheetos. Granted any person who stayed inside 90% of the week probably shouldn’t be that tan, but–

“You writing poems about your little roommate again?”

Mark jumped as Yukhei’s voice boomed in his ear. The moleskin he was scribbling in tumbled to the grass of the quad below him. Mark pushed Yukhei’s head away from his shoulder.

“He better not be,” Mark’s creative writing mentor, Jaehyun, said from where he was seated. “I swear, if I have to hear you go on about ‘sunshine’ or ‘caramel’ or _whatever_ at open mic night _one more time_ , I’m giving you to Doyoung.” Jaehyun poked his thumb toward the man sitting next to him. Doyoung made a noise of protest and shoved Jaehyun onto the grass. 

“You wouldn’t,” Mark said incredulously.

Jaehyun pulled himself back up and shrugged before turning back to the papers he was grading. 

It’s not that Mark didn’t like Doyoung. Doyoung was just...very _particular_ with how he wanted things done and Mark much preferred Jaehyun’s more relaxed style of mentoring. Mark picked his moleskin back up and looked over what he’d written. Then he huffed and scratched out the last three lines.

“But actually,” Yukhei said, plopping down next to Mark, “you’ve been going on about this guy, like, the whole time you’ve lived together. How come we’ve never met him?”

The tips of Mark’s ears warmed. He curled himself closer around the small book in his lap. So maybe he’d taken more interest in his roommate than was strictly necessary. It’s not like he could help it! He had eyes and Donghyuck was _beautiful_ , all soft edges and round features and warm skin. While he didn’t seem to _go out_ to socialize much, Donghyuck’s texts were always so lively, a reflection of the bubbling laughter and sharp quips that came out when he did spend time with Mark. 

At this point, Mark felt like he was burning all the way down to his chest.

“Shouldn’t you be at basketball practice or something?” he mumbled.

Mark didn’t even need to look at Yukhei to know he was pouting. 

“Stop dodging the question,” Yukhei whined. “It’s been, like, _a year and a half._ ”

Mark groaned and tipped his head back. “Donghyuck just...he doesn’t _do_ people, okay?”

Yukhei flailed his arms out exasperatedly. “Jungwoo doesn’t ‘do people’ either and he hangs out with us!”

Mark shot Yukhei an unamused look. “Yes, but Jungwoo is also dating _you._ I’m pretty sure you have to be a superhuman for that.”

Yukhei made an offended noise.

“He’s got a point, Mark,” Jaehyun spoke up again.

Mark looked at Jaehyun with wide eyes. This was the first time he’d _ever_ agreed with Yukhei. 

“Hyung–”

Jaehyun held up a finger to stop him. “No excuses this time.”

Mark knew, he’d _known_ that he wouldn’t be able to fight back against his friends forever, but to say Donghyuck was a recluse would be an understatement. Mark lived with him and still barely saw him. Getting him to hang out with his _friends?_ Impossible. 

“If he doesn’t want to come out, we could just go over to your place. That might make him more comfortable,” Doyoung said, snapping Mark out of his thoughts.

Mark had to resist groaning. They were really making some good points.

“I’m only free tonight, I’ve got essays to grade the rest of the week,” Jaehyun said, nudging his glasses up his nose. Mark adjusted his own glasses on reflex. 

“Well...it is kind of short notice…” He looked around at his friends. 

Yukhei was all but bouncing in anticipation and Doyoung was giving him the look he’d learned meant something along the lines of ‘if you do this I’ll be super proud of you but no pressure’. 

Mark sighed. “I can text him and tell him I’ve got friends coming over and that he’s welcome to join if he wants. I guess.”

Yukhei jumped off the ground and roared, attracting the attention of most of the other people in the area. Mark smiled sheepishly at them, firmly tugging Yukhei back to the grass. 

Jaehyun smiled warmly at Mark. “Well, I hope he chooses to make an appearance. I can’t wait to meet him.”

  
  


* * *

Mark and his friends all piled into his small apartment’s living room later that evening. Jaehyun served as a barrier on the couch between his boyfriend, Taeyong, and Doyoung so they wouldn’t start arguing in the middle of whatever movie they finally decided on. Mark somehow managed to squeeze himself next to Taeyong, and Yukhei and Jungwoo found a spot on the floor. 

When Donghyuck burst through the front door an hour into _The Winter Soldier_ , they all turned to look at him. Donghyuck froze. Mark could see his eyes darting around the room from under the hood of his sweatshirt. Only a few seconds later, Donghyuck was ducking his head and rushing to his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Well that was rude…” Doyoung grumbled. 

Mark shot Doyoung a look and pushed himself up to follow Donghyuck. He gently knocked on the closed door. If he was lucky, Donghyuck wouldn’t have put his headphones on yet. Just when Mark was ready to turn and head back out to his friends, the door opened just enough for Donghyuck to peek out.

Even through the small crack in the door, Mark could tell that Donghyuck looked _rough_. His fluffy hair was a mess, deep purple bags were embedded beneath his eyes, and his chest heaved like he’d just ran two miles to get home. Mark’s eyebrows scrunched up in concern.

“Hey...sorry about all the people. I-I texted you about it earlier, but…” Mark trailed off. “Are you alright?”

Donghyuck sighed and pushed the door all the way open, leaning against the frame heavily. He ran a hand through his hair. Mark barely held back a laugh when it stayed half sticking up.

“I hit a big problem with this...project I’m doing and I’ve been working on it all day, so I haven’t really looked at my phone. But if I don’t get it figured out soon, I’ll be in _really_ big trouble so...” Donghyuck trailed off, glancing behind him where his computer whirred away on his desk.

Mark nodded in understanding. Computer science wasn’t his area of expertise, but he’d seen enough secondhand through Donghyuck and Taeyong to know how hard it could be.

“Well, we’re probably gonna eat soon, if you want anything.”

A corner of Donghyuck’s mouth ticked up. “You’re not cooking, are you?”

Mark glared at Donghyuck, but shivered internally at the thought of himself nearly burning down the whole apartment complex on more than one occasion.

“No. I think we’re getting pizza.”

Donghyuck tugged out his wallet and pulled a few bills out. “Get me the usual and just bring it back once it’s here,” he said, thrusting the money at Mark. “I _might_ be done by then? But I really don’t know.”

Mark took the cash from Donghyuck. He carefully folded them and chewed on his lip.

“But, um, if you do finish, would you want to come hang out? With me? A-and my friends?”

Donghyuck stuffed his wallet into the pocket of his hoodie. He stared at Mark unblinking for what felt like a full minute.

“We’ll see,” he finally said, and shut the door.

Mark sighed, crinkling the neat bills between his fingers. Every time Mark thought that _maybe_ Donghyuck saw him as more than just the guy he lived with, the door slammed in his face. Literally. 

Mark didn’t think he was really reading too far into things either. He could easily recall a sleepy Donghyuck nudging him away from his sad attempt at making pancakes, then staying shoulder to shoulder with him as he fixed Mark’s mess. Or rare weekends when neither of them were drowning in work spent curled together on the couch, binging Black Mirror or whatever movie had caught Donghyuck’s interest, Donghyuck tugging on one of Mark’s ears or playing with his fingers. But Donghyuck never did seem to understand the idea of “personal space.” He was always too close or not close enough, and so slippery that Mark could never _really_ get a grasp on what was going on in his head.

Mark was surprised to find that his feet had carried him back out to the living room in the midst of his thinking. His friends looked at him expectantly. Mark cleared his throat and tucked the cash he was still holding into his pocket.

“Um, Donghyuck’s got a really important project he’s working on, but he might be able to make it out if he finishes.”

  
  
  
  


Donghyuck slipped into the living room while _Thor: Ragnarok_ played. He stacked his trash with everyone else’s then settled onto the floor in front of Mark. Mark felt Donghyuck lean back against his legs. A few minutes later, a hand set itself on top of Mark’s. Slowly, Mark’s hand was dragged out of his own lap and onto Donghyuck’s head. Mark reluctantly let his fingers thread into Donghyuck’s hair. This wasn’t exactly an uncommon position for them, but having his friends see this was more than a little embarrassing. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


The credits had barely started rolling when Doyoung spoke.

“So Mark, care to introduce us to our new addition?”

Mark straightened up in his seat. “Uh, sure.” He slid his hand to Donghyuck’s shoulder and squeezed. “This is my roommate, Donghyuck.”

Donghyuck picked his head up from where it had come to rest on Mark’s knee and waved to the other boys with the hand that wasn’t loosely curled around Mark’s calf. Jungwoo eyed them curiously, but didn’t say anything.

“Wait, Haechan? _You’re_ Mark’s roommate?”

Mark blinked at Taeyong in confusion. 

“Oh, hey TY. It’s been a minute,” Donghyuck chuckled, hooking his chin over Mark’s thigh to look up at Taeyong.

Mark’s gaze darted between Donghyuck and Taeyong as fast as it could. “Wait, you two know each other?”

Donghyuck leaned his cheek on Mark’s knee to look at him. “Yeah, I was one of his TAs last year.” 

Taeyong opened his mouth to say something, but Yukhei made a strangled noise, effectively drawing everyone’s attention. Yukhei put his hands up defensively.

“Sorry, sorry! Look, I just… I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything, but like, _bro_ …” he raised his eyebrows at Donghyuck pointedly, “you really look like you’re gonna…” Yukhei started making some vaguely obscene gestures.

Mark tipped his head back on the couch and willed himself not to think too hard about what Yukhei was suggesting. Donghyuck picked his head up and squinted at Yukhei. 

“What? I don’t get it... Is this some kind of inside joke?”

“Oh, dude, no. It means–”

Yukhei words were cut off by Jungwoo slapping a hand over his mouth.

“Don’t worry about it! He’s just being silly.”

Yukhei furrowed his brows and made some muffled protests, but Donghyuck looked satisfied with Jungwoo’s explanation.

“So you do computer science?” Doyoung asked, easing some of the tension.

Taeyong scoffed. “Does he _do_ computer science? _Please._ Haechan _is_ computer science. He's one of the best we’ve got in the department.”

Donghyuck grinned at Taeyong. “What? Scared I'll take your job?”

Taeyong sputtered and Doyoung gaped at Donghyuck in awe as the rest of the room broke into laughter. Mark let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as conversation finally started to flow more naturally. 

  
  
  


Eventually, the old people (read: Jaehyun) started talking about how late it was getting and how they had “early lectures” the next day. Reluctantly, the rest of the guests in the living room made noises of agreement and they all began filing out of the apartment. 

Mark closed and locked the door once the last person had slipped out. He wiped his suddenly sweaty hands on his thighs and turned to face Donghyuck, who was taking all of the trash into the kitchen.

“S-so, uh,” God, why were words so much harder now that they were alone? Mark cleared his throat and tried again, “Did you like my friends?”

Donghyuck's eyebrows jumped on his forehead. “Huh? Oh. Yeah, I had a good time. Movie was fun.”

Mark’s face scrunched up as he stepped further into the room. That's not what he asked. “But...did you like my _friends?”_ He leaned into the word this time, hoping Donghyuck would pick up on it. 

Donghyuck scrunched his face up in return. “I don't know. This is the first time I've met most of them. TY’s cool I guess, but...” he finished with a shrug. 

Mark couldn't help the disappointment that started to spread in his chest. Donghyuck kept going before he could say anything. 

“And I mean, I wasn’t really expecting to come home to more people than just you, but I still had a good time.” He flicked off the lights in the kitchen as he walked out. He didn't stop moving on his way back to his bedroom, but he sent Mark a warm smile, eyes squished up into crescents as he passed. “Night, I'll see you later.”

Mark could do nothing but stand there, gaping after Donghyuck until long after the door to the other boy’s room had clicked shut. Once his heart was beating normally again, Mark shoved his face into his hands and groaned. How had he managed to make himself even _more_ confused? He hadn't realized how close to breaking he was. Seeing Donghyuck with his friends, hearing all of them talk together, he wanted more of that. He wanted to curl into Donghyuck’s side or pull him into his own while they were all hanging out. He wanted to feel Donghyuck’s words and laughter vibrate through his own chest. He wanted to be able to tease Doyoung for being the only one without a significant other present. He–

He needed help.

  
  


* * *

“This is about Haechan, isn't it,” Taeyong said before Mark could even sit down for their lunch meet-up a few days later. 

Mark somehow managed to not completely trip over himself and set his food on the table. He opened his mouth to protest on reflex, but...that _was_ why he was here, so what was the point of denying it? Mark sighed. 

“Yeah… I just, I don't know what to do, so I thought, since you know him pretty well, or at least maybe, like, the way he thinks since you both, y’know…”

Taeyong set a reassuring hand over one of Mark’s.

“Look, he may have worked with me for months and I may have set him up with the group he works with, but his brain is as mysterious to me as it is to you.”

Mark groaned and took a bite out of his sandwich that was more vicious than he meant it to be. 

“But!” Taeyong continued, “I _do_ know that he understands computers better than any other thing and he responds best to direct statements. No ‘kind of’s or ‘maybe’s or any of that. If you want something from him, you have to say it outright.”

Mark chewed over the words with his next bite.

“I need a computer program that can ask him about his feelings.”

“What? Mark. No. Just,” Taeyong paused to rub circles over his forehead. “Have you _tried_ asking him how he feels? About you? Or telling him how _you_ feel?”

Mark’s ears burned so much he thought his glasses might melt off his face. “Well, no, but, I-I mean I haven't really been _subtle_ about it… Have I?”

Taeyong choked out a surprised laugh around his food. “ _God_ no. You're probably the least subtle person I know. But remember, Haechan really doesn't notice that stuff. You have to use _words_ . Start with that. And _then_ we’ll see if there's any programming that needs to be done. Okay?”

Mark nodded, feeling anxious about having to actually confront Donghyuck about it, but overall lighter than he’d been since movie night. 

* * *

Mark was surprised to find the door unlocked when he got home after his classes. His hands started sweating. He wasn't _planning_ on confessing now, but better now than never, right?

“Donghyuck? What’re you doing home so early?”

Then he realized he could hear voices coming from the direction of Donghyuck’s room. Mark laughed incredulously.

“And with friends?” He started making his way toward the noise. “You meet my friends _one time_ and you change your mind about bring–” Mark stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the men in Donghyuck’s room.

“Uh, who are you?”

The three guys looked at each other from under their bucket hat brims. They nodded at each other, then one of them lunged at Mark. Mark always thought his reflexes were pretty fast but this guy had a leg up on him in brute force. One of the other guys started talking while the strong one secured Mark’s arms behind his back with a zip tie. 

“Well, we just came for the hard drive, but now we've got a boyfriend for collateral.”

Mark sputtered, “Boyfriend?! Wait, whoa, I'm not-”

“Shut up! We’ve gotta get out before Haechan finds us too.”

The last guy picked up something off of Donghyuck’s desk and they started shoving Mark out of his own apartment. Mark fought and kicked as much as he could without messing up the walls. He had a security deposit he wanted back after all. Eventually, he was unceremoniously thrown into the backseat of a car littered with empty Doritos bags and Mountain Dew bottles. Mark protested endlessly until the strong guy held up a sock that he got from God knows where.

“Shut it or I’ll do it for you.”

Mark stewed in silence as they drove into town. Then the light in front of them abruptly turned red, throwing Mark into the back of the seat in front of him. 

“What the fuck?” the guy driving the car said.

Then the windshield wipers started going. 

“What the _fuck?_ ” The guy started pushing and pulling everything he could around the steering wheel to no effect. He stomped at the pedals, but it did little more than make the tires screech and spin out as they stayed stuck at the somehow still red light. The radio blinked to life and the volume shot all the way up. After a moment of ear splitting static and frequency jumping, a voice came through the car speakers.

“Alright, fuckers. Out of the car.”

Mark’s eyes shot to the radio. Why did that voice sound so familiar? Before he could put much more thought into it, he was being yanked out of the car and onto the street. The source of the mysterious radio voice came around the corner a second later and Mark’s breath caught in his throat. He would recognize those long legs, honey-toned skin, and fluffy hair anywhere. This was _not_ how he expected his first run in with Donghyuck outside of their own apartment to go.

“I don’t know what the fuck you want from me that’s so important that you had to break into my _house_ ,” Donghyuck tapped something on the side of the _goggles_ he was wearing, making the car stop rumbling and locking the doors, “but if you want your car, you’ll give it back to me _right now_.” 

He slipped the goggles onto the top of his head and scanned over the group of men. His stern gaze turned into shock when his eyes landed on Mark. The guy who seemed to be the leader must have noticed Donghyuck’s change in expression because he spoke up.

“See something you want more than your hard drive?”

Donghyuck snapped his focus back to the man who spoke. “Why the hell do you have him.” Mark had never heard his voice sound so cold.

“He caught us stealing. So we stole him too. Now let us keep the hard drive and nothing happens to him.”

Donghyuck’s eyes narrowed. “I knew you were jackasses, but now you’re stooping to _actual_ crimes? Really?”

Suddenly, Mark was being jerked around until the strong guy had an arm wrapped tightly around his neck. Mark gasped for breath and stared at Donghyuck with wide eyes.

“It’s up to you Haechan,” the leader taunted.

Donghyuck nearly growled and threw his hands up in defeat.

“Fine! Take the fucking hard drive! Just let him go. And I better not see your ugly ass faces around here again.”

The strong guy released Mark and pushed him forward with so much force he almost face-planted on the sidewalk. Instead, he ended up with a face full of Donghyuck’s leather jacket and a hand on his back to keep him steady. Mark stayed there, catching his breath, as the car pulled away. Finally, he cleared his throat and straightened up.

“Sorry about your hard drive. I’m not totally sure what’s going on, but if there’s anything I can do, just–” 

Mark was cut short by Donghyuck’s lips literally slamming onto his own. Mark’s eyes darted around trying to process what was happening and if it was actually happening. Donghyuck pulled back before he could make any real progress. Mark blinked at Donghyuck before his brows furrowed.

“Wait, what? What just? You? I…? _What?_ ” Mark took a deep breath. “Okay. _Okay_. First, can you get my hands out of this thing? It’s kind of starting to hurt.”

Donghyuck jumped a little. “Oh! Yeah, hold on.” He dug in his jacket and pulled out a pocket knife, then quickly slipped around Mark to cut the zip tie.

Mark rubbed at his wrists as he willed his heart to calm down a little more.

“Okay, so, _a lot_ just happened. And I think we should...talk...about, well, all of it. So, um, first, what exactly did those guys want?”

“I do a lot of hacking work and they’re a rival group of ours. They wanted the plans for these babies,” Donghyuck said, wiggling the goggles on his head. “I made them so I can hack specific systems from just about anywhere. That’s how I did that shit to their car.”

“So now...they can do that too?” Mark said, a little in awe at just how far Donghyuck’s skill set went.

Donghyuck snorted. “No. I knew they’d come for the plans themselves when I locked them out of my network backdoors, so I planted a decoy. They’ll end up with some really nice sunglasses, but nothing that actually works.”

Mark’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Oh! Well, that’s good…” he trailed off, eyes drifting down to Donghyuck’s mouth. “You kissed me,” Mark said, voice gentle.

Donghyuck cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. “Yes, I did.”

Mark’s eyes flitted around Donghyuck’s face. It was then that he noticed the pink dusted across his cheeks, which, now that he thought about it, probably matched his own. “Why?”

“I was talking to Taeyong earlier and he asked me if I liked you, romantically, and I said that I did and that I’ve been trying to show it, but I’m not really the best with... _feelings_. So he said that I should try showing you in the most obvious way possible, and the first thing I thought of...was a kiss.”

Mark stood there, reeling from all of the information that Donghyuck had unloaded onto him. “So you...like me. And you’ve been showing...that you like me?”

Donghyuck nodded. 

Somewhere in Mark’s brain he knew that they should definitely talk more, but the only thing his adrenaline riddled body wanted was physical contact. So he rushed forward to cup Donghyuck’s face and _finally_ return his kiss. He pulled back only a few seconds later to speak again, head feeling significantly less hazy. 

“Just so we’re clear, I like you too. A lot. Like, romantically. And I want to date you, like, be boyfriends and stuff. As long as you’ll hang out with me and my friends more often.”

Donghyuck grinned and tugged Mark closer. “I’ll do just about anything with you if it means you keep kissing me like that.”

Mark chuckled and leaned back in. But Donghyuck stopped him short with a finger on his lips. 

“But seriously don't get kidnapped again. I might have the gear to be a superhero, but I am _not_ that tough.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to kiss or not?”

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright, come here you.”

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
